


always

by mind_boggling



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Gen, my microleo ass back at it again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 17:29:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13575471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mind_boggling/pseuds/mind_boggling
Summary: “Where is this even coming from?” He asks, watching Sarah move around their kitchen putting things into cupboards and dishes into the basin to wash. “I mean, I booked her first few lessons for months in advance so I could hopefully dissuade her from going through with it”Sarah just sighs in response, placing the cloth she was cleaning with on the counter before rubbing her eyes slowly. “She’s fifteen, she was going to ask at some point it’s not something you can postpone for that long, David. And don’t give me that ‘fifteen is too young’ bullshit”He hesitates, mouth agape, before saying “Fifteen is too young, Sarah”“Bull, David. You were driving at fifteen” She replies, arms crossed over her chest in slight anger. “Look, this isn’t just some empty promise you can throw away. She’s not gonna stop til you take her out in that car and you know it”





	always

**Author's Note:**

> a super super cute fic request from an anon off tumblr! y'all know how much i love microleo so i just had to make this centred on them <3

He’s terrified. He has to admit it, to himself more than anyone, but also to Sarah, who’s equally as petrified at the thought of their daughter growing and driving a car.

Leo had been begging for weeks on end for him to take her out in his car to practise driving before she started lessons. Something about wanting to know pretty much everything there is to know before starting lessons so her instructor was impressed. Sarah had widened her eyes from behind their daughter as Leo beamed up at David in their kitchen. She had a habit of making everything she could as perfect as it could be. He’d nodded and promised, but as cruel as it sounded, had no intentions of keeping it.

_“Where is this even coming from?” He asks, watching Sarah move around their kitchen putting things into cupboards and dishes into the basin to wash. “I mean, I booked her first few lessons for months in advance so I could hopefully dissuade her from going through with it”_

_Sarah just sighs in response, placing the cloth she was cleaning with on the counter before rubbing her eyes slowly. “She’s fifteen, she was going to ask at some point it’s not something you can postpone for that long, David. And don’t give me that ‘fifteen is too young’ bullshit”_

_He hesitates, mouth agape, before saying “Fifteen is too young, Sarah”_

_“Bull, David. You were driving at fifteen” She replies, arms crossed over her chest in slight anger. “Look, this isn’t just some empty promise you can throw away. She’s not gonna stop til you take her out in that car and you know it”_

He’d put it off for as long as he could, but merely a few weeks before her first lessons, Leo had targeted him so tactically that he hadn’t even seen it coming. The weekend had approached and it was the first day off he’d had in a long time. Since he’d started working at Homeland, his schedule had gotten pretty heavy, and he was back into the routine of sleepless nights and early morning starts. Dinah let nothing slip past her, not once. Leo asks him when he’s sitting on the couch about to watch TV.

“I’m home for ten minutes tops, Leo, then I have to go to work” He plays his best sympathetic card, but he can’t tell if it worked or not.

“No you don’t, today’s your day off. You said so this morning” But Leo folds her arms in response, smugger than usual for her.

And he that was when he realised that she listens to absolutely everything. Everything.

-/-

He’s surprisingly shocked at how much she knows prior to actually driving the car, but then scalds himself for ever doubting her. He knows she’d be as prepared as she possibly could be.

They practise in an empty parking lot a few blocks over from their house, and he teaches her the very basics of starting the car, keeping the car from stalling, and using the clutch, the pedals and the brakes. She has a far more acute knowledge on everything than he does, as it was nearing twenty years since he first learnt everything himself. And everything had changed since then, so many new additions to the testing system and the amount of money it cost just to even learn.

“What books have you been reading?” He asks, as they pull to a halt in the parking lot. Leo beams at him with pride, trying her best to suppress it. Her cheeks flush red as David tucks a strand of hair behind her ear that fell over her eyes – so he can get a better look at her.

“Just some stuff online” she says, “I couldn’t actually buy any of the official books because they cost too much so I just-“

“Leo,” he says quickly, “Anything you need, just ask. Don’t think about money, that’s for your Mom and I to worry about, alright? Promise me, Leo” Her smile has fallen, and she looks David in the eye from the drivers seat. He rubs her shoulder, plastering a smile on his face to try and tone down the sudden anger and hurt he was feeling. Money problems on the shoulders of a fifteen year old? It just wasn’t on.

“Can I ask you a question?” She asks, shuffling about in the seat.

He frowns. “Always”

“Why wouldn’t you take me out driving before now?” She’s sheepish when she asks, looking down at the clutch between them and fiddling with the fraying hem of the denim dress she was wearing. He sighs loudly, rubbing his eyes and turning away from her and looking back out the window in front of them.

“Honest answer?” He replies.

“Always” she answers.

“I was scared” He says.

Leo laughs. So clearly and- loud, she’s giggling to herself in the driver’s seat before she clears her throat and speaks again. “It’s not like I was going to crash or anything, Dad, I read up on the safety prec-“ she stops as he turns to look at her babbling on. Her smile fades again, and no matter how many times he sees it happen, it never stops hurting. “You…weren’t scared about the driving, were you?”

“You’re my baby girl, Leo” he whispers, tears springing to his eyes unexpectedly. She looks away from him quickly, and he fears the same happening to her, tears welling in her eyes as she sees him cry. “You’re growing up and its scary. It is. Your Mom feels the same, but she’s more lenient to it, but me? I just… I don’t know how to handle it” he says before he laughs at his own stupidity. 

“I’ll always be your little girl, Dad” she replies, which only causes his tears to overflow and drip onto his cheeks. He’s laughing again, and Leo puts a hand on his own, pulling it towards her and pressing it against her chest. Her heart is pounding, he feels, and he sighs. “Nothing is going to change that”

He nods. “I know. Just me being sensitive, that’s all”

“You could have just told me” she answers, causing them both to laugh at the same time. David wipes the tears from his cheeks before he pulls her across the centre station of the car between them and into his arms. She’s still as light as ever, and she lands on his lap in a hug and they stay there for what seems like a solid few minutes. Just basking in the silence. 

He finally whispers, “Your driving instructor isn’t going to know what hit them”

**Author's Note:**

> find me elsewhere:
> 
>  **twitter:** vanlangs  
>  **tumblr:** bisexualieberman


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